Introducing: Mr. Pong’s Bar, a new Little Portugal watering hole from the people behind Cold Tea

Mr. Pong’s Real Food, the Canadian-Chinese restaurant that provided fuel for so many late nights on Queen West in the ’90s, closed its doors in 2005. Leave it to Oliver Dimapilis, Matthew LaRochelle and Stacey Welton, the folks behind Kensington’s Cold Tea (which celebrates a different proud Toronto tradition), to revive the name for Mr. Pong’s Bar, a new watering hole in Little Portugal. The venture is a collaboration with The Lakeview’s Alex Sengupta and Richard Pope, and features food by Robbie Hojilla (Ursa, Woodlot). But a glance at the artwork on the walls reveals that this is not the Mr. Pong’s you may remember: the jovial, bushy-tailed panda bear mascot has been replaced by a blood-thirsty machete-wielding comic book character who takes out the bad guys and then goes home for a smoke.

Dimapilis tells us he’s confident that mature adults of drinking age will be able to handle artist Andres Miranda’s ultra-violent take on the iconic bear. The small 30-seat room also features a wraparound bar, some neon signage and a wall of Chinese newsprint at the back. Downstairs, there’s a peep show booth that will house a rotating art installation (and, we’re told, other sundry novelties to look in on). Manager Alex Ioannou (Ronnie’s Local 069) and bartender Matt Turenne (Parts and Labour) buck the craft cocktail and beer trends, favouring hipster-approved cans of Stroh’s ($4) and shots of Jameson ($5) instead. Hojilla has created a rotating menu of unconventional spring rolls ($6 for two), which currently includes beef cheek adobo, vegetarian, poutine, quince with mascarpone (a dessert roll) and lumpiang shanghai made from his mother’s recipe. The concept, of course, is a cheeky nod to the old Mr. Pong’s slogan: “Home of the jumbo egg roll.”

I remember the MR. Pong Delivery truck pulling outside “FreakShow” 318 Richmond and the food trucks driver falling asleep only to wake up to an empty truck and a sea of 15 year old goths and ravers. This turned into a yelling matches and the threat of police by both the unfortunately sleepy employee and his boss when he showed up 10 mins later. (the cops showed up hours later and laughed the whole situation off)

My memories of their food stem from that night, my first but sadly not the only time tasting one of their head sized spring rolls. This spring roll that is perhaps the absolute worst spring roll I have ever spat back out onto the side walk. I think that vile bloated grease drenched pile of nearly rotten sprouts they call a spring roll was one of their signature specialities too…

I hope the new owners are successful. However I fail to understand the nostalgia behind some of Toronto’s worst food or a brand that was a laughing stock that’s bread and butter was under-aged drunk kids who didn’t know better.